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Trends
We're in a rut. To exit the rut, we have to understand the trends. As a storm arrives, the wind generally blows from the same directions. Has been: Too little and too late. Will become: No panic and pulling our own weight. | Pittsburgh's leaders generally do too little too late. Sometimes the solution they decide upon is too little. Sometimes the fault comes for being too late. Other times the actions are too little and too late. Examples: * County row offices. (too little) * School closings. (too late) This trend includes the band-aid approach. :In the 2004 summer, Elsie Hillman and Dr. Bill Truehart of the Pittsburgh Foundation put some money on the table, raised other funds and, with great fanfare, saved our summer. The efforts were akin to putting a band-aid upon a dozen swim pools that were already held together by a band-aid. In June, 2004, I spoke out that the newest band-aid on the old band-aid might have been pasted to a corpse. I raised doubts that the body (Citiparks, swim pools) might be dead. In October 2004, an I.C.A. plan proved my point. They revealed that $0 would go to Citiparks in 2006. : :* Play.CLOH.Org Has been: Thinking small. Could be: Think forward. Think Smart. Think of it all. Create the infrastructure so that everyone wins, rich and poor, big and small. Pittsburgh built the football stadium with 65,000 hard-to-get seats and million dollar boxes for the rich. A real think of it all approach would have delivered a football stadium with 110,000 seats so that the 'Average Joe's' in the seven-county region with whom Allegheny County is inexorably connected, could attend a Steelers game. Seize the opportunity to reinforce the concept that we are all in this together. "We must all hang together, or we will assuredly all hang separately." - Benjamin Franklin We are now hanging separately. As Washington and Butler Counties boom, Allegheny County continues to bust. As Cleveland, Columbus, Cinncinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, and Baltimore metropolitan areas boom, Southwestern Pennslyvania busts. We and our kids can't find good paying jobs to support our families here. Abandon the in-fighting, put aside the pride of being big fish in little ponds in the hundred-plus municipalities. Replace "What's in it for me (and parochial groups of people with whom I idenfify)?" with "What's in it for all of us?". Has been: To authorities and away from liberty. Will become: Away from authorities and to liberty with voter accountability. Our move away from democracy and to concentrate powers in authories has been a source of the damages and is a looming danger forever more, unless we change it. The trend to more and more power to more and more authorities is one that needs to be reversed. We have far to many appointed people making far to important decisions. These people don't have accountability. The decisions are made to boost power to the executives, the elite and the coporations who are tied to the jobs -- not the taxpayers/citizens. Pittsburgh needs to be know for its free people and its sense of bing a free community where everyone gets to live a productive life as they so choose. Being free means following your hopes, your dreams, wherever they may lead as long as you respect the equal rights of neighbors to their lives and their property. This sense of freedom is an American ideal that follows from our rights in the Declaration of Independence. A limited constitutional government is a uniquely American approach. The signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their lives, their furtures and their sacred honor to the cause of freedom. I respect that kind of a commitment. My offer is to step forward as your candidate for mayor. My hope is to help reclaim freedoms and allow greatness to soar in our tight, urban community. :PAT's unfavorable cost comparison with other bus systems is symptomatic of Pittsburgh's problems. As is well known, the City government and the school district spend too much while continually asking for more revenue from taxpayers. All three entities have one important thing in common. They are public sector monopolies unrestrained by competition and not compelled to hold the line on costs, relying instead on their ability to squeeze more money from taxpayers. Perhaps someday elected officials will decide the taxpayers deserve some relief and will insist on real accountability from these government entities. (Original source: Allegheny Institute Has been: Silly Overspending with Murphy-nomics. Will become: A wise extravagance only for everyone's benefits. hopes to identify, isolate and terminate Pittsburgh's moronic moves. Pittsburgh has been filled with far too many goofy spending measures. As mayor, I do not have a problem calling people to the office and onto the carpet to fully explain themselves and their endeavors. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy took over a parking lot in Oakland and replaced it with a merry-go-round and outdoor cafe. This parking lot in Oakland is between two libraries and often has a line of more than a dozen cars waiting to park. The main branch of the Carnegie Library just installed a new coffee bar. There is no way I can be convinced that we need to cram more parked cars onto choked and busy Okaland streets and while making less overall parking so as to expand for a new, outdoor coffee shop. Think again. This isn't wise. Yes, that plan is extravagance of the worst kind. No more stupid spending here. See Oakland-parking-Jet for an update from June 2008. * Fix the locks and dams in this area. Has been: Off to court we go. Will be: Greater efforts before litigation. The trend in this city is to run to court. We go to court too often. Let's begin to settle things ourselves. Let's work it out. And, we understand that this work is going to include heavy lifting. We need leaders who can pester, badger, push, probe and be relentless in working out matters. Our leaders need to be creative. Smooth fixes don't always follow brute force. The hard work brings more effective outcomes when we have creative problem solvers. The splendid options never make it to the table. We are too narrow in our thought and too rushed and self-centered in our dealings. We must reverse the trend of running to court. We must figure out better solutions to our problems. A judge isn't going to make a legal decision that is going to be the best possible outcome for Pittsburgh. For Pittsburgh to soar, we'll need creative, hardworking leadership. You go to judges when you're surrounded by failure and as a last resort. Rather, we need to present our cases, even on complicated matters, to a court of public opinion. City Controller Sued and Settled City over budget On November 9, 2004, City Controller, Tom Flaherty, made a threat to sue the Mayor about his budget. This is another example how the Democrats solve problems. This is another fine example of how the departments are not willing to clean house and are too concerned with the protection of jobs. The suit was resolved in late October, nearly a year later. The outcome means that the city will pay an additional $200,000 per year in 2006 and 2007. :http://Rauterkus.com/art/wiki/links.gif ::*Raise our margin of litigation Has been: Willy-nilly taxing mix. Will become: A purposeful tax policy that rewards graces we desire. As part of public policy, a global view is needed from time to time. As something is taxed, it generally diminishes. Consider taxation for public policy leverage. Has been: Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, ad nausium. Will become: Simplification. Evolution. It is a gift to be simple. It is a gift to be free. Simple can be smart too. We'll be smart. We'll be brief. We'll take small steps. We'll embrace piecemeal. The lease agreement for PNC Park for the Pittsburgh Pirates is as thick as a phone book. The complicated, convaluted, confusing elements of the past city leadership is prevalent because they need to blow smoke. Library leases ... tell more. On the federal level we have the IRS tax code and volumes of confusion. When you need to give a break to someone else, you need to bend the rules or make new rules. Pittsburgh is a place with borders and a fixed amount of land within its borders. We don't have a shrinking tax base as we've not lost land in the east to Turtle Creek. Our tax base is our land. When we understand and move to a single tax, a land value tax, we'll fix most of our ills and problems. It is mostly all about land. When land is not the guide, then we are miss-guided. For the city government, the concept of land needs to be much like the North Star. Trend: Shift blame by saying all northern cities are hurting. * Shrug. Trend: Has been: Over reaching on politics and campaigs with empty promises. Should be: Honesty, thorough platforms and continual actions supporting those statements. * Honest Trend: Has been: Bailouts and going back to Harrisburg for more handouts. Should be: Self-reliance. Individuals have an inherent right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives and to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not infringe upon the inherent rights of others to do the same. Along with these liberties, all individuals have an equally inherent and inseparable responsibility to be personally accountable for any consequences of the actions they choose. Representative government, having no higher moral authority than any person it governs, cannot abrogate, supercede or otherwise interfere with any individual's rights or responsibilities. The policies and practices of government should seek to achieve a streamlined, practical and more effective system that protects and encourages the liberty of all its citizens while providing for any necessary public services in a fair and equitable manner. Trend: Has been: Little hope of fair enforcement of wacky legislation. Should be: Real world legislation backed up by proper enforcement. * Enforcement :Couple gets sympathy, citation, no fix for hill After city building inspection officials looked at the problem, they issued a citation against the Hendrixes, based on the fact that their land is moving. Fortunately, the city never tried to enforce that citation, Mrs. Hendrix said. http://Rauterkus.com/art/wiki/links.gif * Polls * Zero tolerance * Housing Trends category:Platform_Planks_from_Mark_Rauterkus